Crystal Hearts Trilogy: Book 3 Light and Love Snippet
by Volyren Nightsong
Summary: A brief taste of what's to come in episode 3. To let everyone know I am still working on it, and have not forgotten, or lost interest.


I apologize to everyone for this taking so long. Not only computer problems, but real life keep getting in the way of me being able to devote enough time to getting this done quickly. I just want to assure everyone that I AM still working on finishing it, and that even in some crazy event, like my death, the story notes will be released in detail so that the narrative can be completed.

This is a snippet of Light and Love, a work in progress. I hope this gives you all an idea of the tone of the story. Desperate and dark, struggling to hold onto what is most important. This is a rough draft, and there are story header notes at the beginning, but it fleshes out into rough draft a paragraph or two in. This section of the story is from the mid point of the narrative. I hope to have a full section written soon, and can post from the beginning of the story. Hope you enjoy the preview. (I've tried to remove any major spoilers.)

The Gems are surrounded, battling the overseer's agents. They are tired and Steven knows that they cannot stand much longer. He has used up and destroyed most of the gems left on the sash, and can feel that he is close to suffering desynchronization. (when he can no longer use the gems to bind his life force.)

Amethyst is hit hard and he screams, rushing to her aid, activating his last bit of power to take out her attackers. He begins to fall, powerless and dying. He sees Amethyst's eyes, looking toward him with fear as he blacks out.

He can feel Zircon's presence in the darkness he finds himself in. The Gem Cutter laughs at his struggle against beings more perfect than he, as a puny mortal.  
>They exchange heated words, before Zircon mentions to him about how once again he is unable to save Amethyst.<p>

Steven has an epiphany. If he dies, then the last bit of Zircon dies with him.  
>He pleads with the demon. "You were appointed to watch over the weave. And you wanted to make it perfect. Well, each thread in that tapestry is the connections that one being has with another."<br>Zircon listens.

"You wanted that pattern to be perfect, more than anything else. Well, now I need your help to maintain that perfection."

Intrigued, the demon lets him continue.

"I love Amethyst perfectly. And I know that our weave in that tapestry of yours is also PERFECT. Otherwise I would have never been able to pluck the prism rose."

Zircon says "You lie. You could not have plucked the rose."

"You are in my mind, are you not, demon?" Steven asks. "If you cannot see the truth there, then sense my love out there, fighting for her life. In her pack is that very rose which I gave to her."

The Gem Cutter nods in agreement. "Very well, mortal. My existence is devoted to perfection, so let us protect it. If I am to fall here, then let me fall in battle!"

He cautions the young man. "but do not think that we are allies. When this is over, I will find a way back, and I will destroy you. The pattern is already woven, your death will not change it."

"Fair enough" Steven agrees. "But leave HER alone. Do that, and I will face you alone, no tricks, no deceptions, just a true battle between the two of us."

"Done." The demon agreed. Extending his wicked clawed hand towards Steven, he waited for the young man to place his palm against his own.

"The contract is accepted. My power is now yours, for the short time you have to use it."  
>The demon then snarled, showing his wicked teeth.<br>"And I will be here, in the ether, awaiting your swift return, and then little mortal, you are mine."

"Don't hold your breath" Steven quipped "I don't plan on returning any time soon."

The demon only chuckled. "With no gem to bind your life force, you will have no choice." He became dead serious "But enough of this. Go and save your pathetic friends, if you can. Let my perfection be witnessed by the overseer once more!"

Amethyst clutched Steven's lifeless body as Pearl and Garnet tried to protect the two against the seemingly endless waves of agents.

"We cannot keep this up, Amethyst. I'm sorry, but it looks like this is it."

As Amethyst began to despair, Steven opened his eyes.

Her immediate joy was replaced by bone-chilling fear as she looked into his pitch black eyes.  
>He pushed her to the side and rose to his feet.<p>

Tendrils of inky darkness extended from his hands and entangles the stunned Gems. Twisting back towards the newly arisen Steven, the tendrils released them behind him. The Gems stood ready, with heavy hearts, to face this new threat.

Steven turned his head back towards them, his ebon pupils crackling with dark energy.

"Stay behind me." His voice boomed, both deep and terrible, as if two beings were speaking at once. They could hear their friend, but also something dark and unnatural in that voice.

"Overseer!" Steven screamed. "You will bow down before true perfection!"

Then, as if having some uncontrollable muscle spasm, Steven's head rocked to the side, his jaw clenching as if struggling against something. He screamed once more, and his voice was both pained and strong, as if some great agony was being endured by choice. But it was his own voice this time.

"You…Won't…Hurt…HER!" He bellowed defiantly. "I won't let you take her away from me! No matter the cost!"

The agents had stopped their advance. The lead one held out a transmission crystal and once again the overseer appeared before them.

"You are a curious lot. You speak of love and hope, and wanting to protect the universe, yet you struggle so hard against another who is trying to do just that."  
>He turned to Steven.<br>"And you, so willing to sacrifice yourself for this 'love'. Once again, your string is fraying and at its end, and once again you try to sacrifice yourself for your friends."  
>His wisdom-filled eyes gazed deep into Steven's soul.<br>"You have made a pact with the very darkness that took the one you love from you."  
>The Gems collectively gasped at this revelation, and Amethyst began to weep.<br>"You have become something that cannot be accepted by your friends, or your love. How can you claim to represent their best interests, when you throw away the love you so passionately spoke to me of earlier?"

Steven growled in anger, gnashing his teeth, struggling against the darkness within him.

"I cannot comprehend you 'Gems'. You all speak of protecting the universe, even at the expense of your own lives. Yet when one of you attempts to do so, the others fight to stop them." The overseer shook his head. "This is illogical. It makes no sense. You are contradiction incarnate. I cannot allow your continued disruptions to affect the weave. It is obvious to me that the only solution is to remove each of your fibers from the grand tapestry."

"NEVER!" Steven screamed as waves of pure darkness shot forth from his outstretched hands and tore through the ranks of the agents, like a scythe through wheat.

Through the dust, more agents marched forward, replacing the ones who had just been felled. The overseer again appeared before them.

"I really hoped this could all be avoided. I have tried to find the most peaceful and painless solution to this issue. But at every turn, you attempt to stop me, even battle me. I too, seek to protect this universe. But unlike you mortal beings, my entire existence is devoted to this task."

Sadness reflected in the overseer's eyes. "I understand, that by your very nature, you are tied to each other. So it is with all living things on this physical plane. You fight for your friends, and your love." He gestured to Steven and Amethyst. "But in doing so, you endanger countless other lives. Their friends, THEIR LOVES."

He stared pleadingly at Steven. "Can you truly call yourself a protector of this universe while placing your own happiness above the good of all others?"

Steven lowered his head, and smirked.

The overseer continued. "You suffered through a miserable life, and turned your broken body into a massive weapon, and even used the portal, knowing it would mean your death, to try and save the universe from Zircon. And even after I sent you back, and saved you, you worried that there was a greater threat looming, and once again intended to give up your life just to deliver that message to the ones you thought could protect the universe against it. And not long ago, when I informed you of the threat you posed to this universe, you twice tried to sacrifice yourself to me in order to save it."

The overseer's eyes opened wide, as if wanting to fully see the truth of the young warrior's answer. "So then why do you fight me now, when you know the truth of the consequences of your continued existence here? You have always taken the path of the hero. I need you to ask yourself, 'What is heroic about this?' "

Steven brought his eyes up to meet the overseer. The darkness had left them, forced back by his need to speak with his own voice.

"You obviously know nothing about me, overseer." Steven admitted. " I did not come back to save the universe. I did it to save my friends." He looked lovingly at Amethyst. "To save HER." Steven faced the elderly apparition once more. "When I came back after finding myself still alive, I did not do so to warn anyone of anything. I had faith that Garnet was already thinking the same thing." He once again looked down, as if shamed. "I could not let myself live in that lifeless hell you sent me back to. So I activated the portal again, though it took what little power sustained me and more. I only wished to die in HER arms."

Amethyst stared at the man she loved. For all of his admissions, they only made her love him more. Tears ran down her face as she listened to his confessions.

"And when you told us of the threat my existence was creating, I was prepared to end my life once more, but again, not for the universe. I was ready to die for HER. I could not let my life endanger hers."

The overseer listened quietly as Steven confessed.

"I am no hero." He admitted. "I never have been. I am merely another selfish fool, who has chosen to follow his heart against the counsel of his mind. I cannot help but love her. I always will, and nothing can change that. Not you, not the universe, not your agents, and not this dark demon whose power I have borrowed."

He glared at the overseer, the darkness beginning to swirl in his eyes once more. "At any time, I would have gladly sacrificed myself to ensure that Amethyst would still have a chance at happiness in this world, even just a few moments ago." The darkness flared in his eyes as his anger rose. "But when you threatened her life…" He snarled. "You lost your only bargaining chip with me."

Sadness crossed the overseer's face. "So you are willing to endanger all of creation for this one woman?"

Steven smiled lovingly at Amethyst, and his eyes narrowed sorrowfully, as if to offer a silent apology for all the suffering he had caused her. He then turned back to the overseer.

"I love her more than I love myself. I love her more than anyone else." He spoke as dark power began to blossom at his fingertips. "I love her more than ANYTHING."  
>Rising into the air as the currents of darkness grew stronger and began swirling around him, he pointed his outstretched arms toward the gathered mass of agents.<br>"You say that our happiness is a threat? You say that our love is a threat to the universe?" Steven ground his teeth in rage. He wrapped himself in the swirling shadows, and then released the gathered energy in an explosive wave that tore the earth asunder.

"THEN FUCK THE UNIVERSE!"

The blast tore through the ranks of the agents, its pure darkness obliterating the army in front of him as the pure darkness attacked them on a sub-atomic level. The light bonds that joined the molecules of their being, each neatly severed by absolute darkness.

Struggling to maintain the power and consciousness at the same time, Steven directed the blast towards the crystalline gateway that the overseer was sending his army through.

With a final push, the gateway cracked and shattered, as the portal it held open collapsed in on itself with a brilliant shockwave that knocked Steven to the ground.

Spent, he looked up to the twinkling stars of the night sky as he felt the dark power leave him completely.

So this is it. He thought. I can only hope that it was enough. As his vision began to fade, Amethyst's face came into view. She was crying and yelling something at him, but he couldn't hear it. He couldn't hear anything.

I'm sorry. He thought to her. I wanted to be with you forever. I know I promised that we would have children, grow old together.

She continued to talk to him, pounding at his chest, but he could not feel the impact.

His vision darkened and he struggled to maintain his view of her beautiful face as the light left his eyes. He knew that there was nothing that could be done. They were in the middle of nowhere, there were no gems to implant, and even if there were, Garnet had not had a chance to finish her research.

As his vision darkened to a narrow slit, he used all of his willpower, straining to keep his eyes upon her as darkness closed in from the sides, until all that his eyes beheld were her beautiful lavender eyes. They would be the last thing he ever saw, and he was grateful that he could die beholding that which was most beautiful in this world.

As the numbing cold spread throughout his body, he managed a final thought.

"I love you, Amethyst."

And with that, he left the world one last time.


End file.
